YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Following an afternoon rally, U.S. equities failed to hold session highs and ended mixed. The Dow advanced by nearly 0.5%, while the S&P 500 was essentially unchanged and Nasdaq fell by 0.3%. Mixed earnings and a new home sales reading that missed expectations provided the day's headlines. Egan Jones issued a downgrade of Italy's sovereign rating to CCC+ from B+. Despite weak results from Apple (AAPL 574.97, -25.95), technology was the best performing sector in the S&P 500 today.

Symantec (SYMC 14.96, +1.79), Altera (ALTR 34.41, +3.74), and Juniper Networks (JNPR 16.51, +1.70) reported positive results combined with a better-than-expected outlook. As a result, all three stocks were up in excess of 10%. In addition, Symantec (SYMC 14.96, +1.79) announced the firing of Chief Executive Officer Enrique Salem who will be replaced by the company's Chairman, Steve Bennett.

Financials were also one of the top sectors today.

The SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF 14.27, +0.06) was up by 0.4%. Within the sector, Morgan Stanley (MS 12.96, +0.34) led the way, posting a 2.7% gain. Citigroup (C 25.79, +0.55) and Goldman Sachs (GS 95.96, +1.49) also advanced by 2.2%, and 1.6% respectively. Wells Fargo (WFC 33.16, -0.07) was the main underperformer, ending the day 0.2% down.

Natural Grocers (NGVC 17.86, +2.86) ended the day up 19% following this morning's initial public offering. The company has been compared to Whole Foods Market (WFM 84.53, +0.53) which will release its third quarter results following today's closing bell.

Shares of General Motors (GM 18.80, -0.22) were down 1.2% after rival Toyota Motor (TM 72.51, -0.47) grabbed the first-half global sales lead. The company announced first-half sales of 4.67 million vehicles, which fell approximately 300,000 short of Toyota's number. Today's selling has dropped the stock below the $19.00 level for the first time since the company emerged from bankruptcy in November 2010.

Netflix (NFLX 60.29, -20.10) was the S&P 500's worst performer after second quarter subscriber growth came in below expectations. Investors were also concerned over higher costs and increased competition going forward.

Precious metals climbed higher in today's pit trade as the dollar weakened on comments from European Central Bank council member Ewald Nowotny suggesting Europe's rescue fund should receive a banking license. Gold climbed to a session high of $1609.10 per ounce before settling just below that level at $1607.70 for a gain of 2.0%. Silver pulled-back slightly in morning action to a session low of $27.05 per ounce but quickly regained momentum. It booked a 2.5% gain as it closed near session highs at $27.48.

In addition to another set of earnings, Thursday's data includes initial and continuing unemployment claims, durable orders, and pending home sales.

Crude oil slid into the red and to its floor session low of $86.82 per barrel following weak inventory data that showed a build of 2.717 mln barrels when a draw of 1.0 mln barrels was anticipated. Despite the fall, the energy component managed to gain momentum and popped back into positive territory in afternoon action. A rally heading into the close pushed prices higher such that crude settled with a 0.6% gain at $89.03 per barrel.

Natural gas fell deeper into negative territory, dipping as low as $3.05 per MMBtu in afternoon pit action. It closed floor trade 3.5% lower at $3.07 per MMBtu, posts its first loss in six sessions.

Precious metals climbed higher in today's pit trade as the dollar weakened on comments from ECB council member Ewald Nowotny suggesting Europe's rescue fund should receive a banking license. Gold climbed to a session high of $1609.10 per ounce and settled just below that level at $1607.70 per ounce for a gain of 2.0%. Silver pulled-back slightly in morning action to a session low of $27.05 per ounce but quickly regained momentum. It booked a 2.5% gain as it closed at $27.48 per ounce, just below its session high of $27.49 per ounce.

Treasury will auction $29 billion 7-yr notes.DJ30 +58.73 NASDAQ -8.75 SP500 -0.42 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1433/1.7 bln/1002 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1631/783.1 mln/1398